The Buzzy Denim Brand Fashion Girls Tried to Gatekeep

While I agree that capris are coming back, so far, when Still Here puts its mark on a controversial jean style, that has been enough to make the look beloved again. The New York–based brand landed on my radar in recent months, and as someone who doesn’t wear jeans (or pants of any kind, for that matter) very often, I found myself coveting some new denim for the first time in years, because I kept seeing fashion-editor friends in pairs that looked perfectly worn. The jeans all had the kind of enviable slouch you have to spend hours scouring racks at the vintage store to find. But when I kept asking these different friends about their jeans, and whether they were old Levi’s 501s from the ’90s, I kept getting the same answer: “No, they’re Still Here!”

The brand was founded in 2018. Sonia Mosseri’s love of jeans was instilled in her by her father, who immigrated to the United States from Egypt as a child, and used the few dollars his parents gave him to buy jeans for school. Sonia held onto his jeans and quickly became obsessed with them. “They meant the world to me, because they had patches and ink stains and marks from my grandmother mending them,” she tells me. “He went to Brooklyn College, and then I went to Brooklyn College. There was just so much memory on those jeans. So at a young age, just growing up in Brooklyn, I started collecting vintage jeans.” When, to her parents’ dismay, she decided to pursue a career in fine art, she ended up hand-painting denim jeans and selling one-of-a-kind pairs online, where they’d sell out instantly.

Still Here founders Maurice and Sonia Mosseri

“Maurice and I got married. We ended up doing a trade show, and by the end of it, we had hundreds of boutiques that were interested in our samples, which were one-of-one samples,” Sonia says. “And then that week, Barneys reached out for line sheets. And we kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘What are line sheets?’ But we realized there’s obviously demand for jeans—embellished jeans!—but also just jeans. I just felt strongly there was a wide space in the denim market that no one was really filling at the time.”

They both felt that multimillion-dollar brands selling denim in department stores were just falling short, as far as jeans were concerned. “When I was growing up, I was looking at L.L.Bean, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein,” Sonia says. “And those were pillars that dictated my style and Still Here from a marketing and aesthetic perspective.” She and Maurice wanted to find a way to re-create that effortless aesthetic, which suddenly felt retro. “I’m trying to continue that story of simplicity: blue jeans and white T-shirt. The classic American uniform that looks different on everyone.” They expanded past one-of-one samples, trying to re-create the feel of Sonia’s father’s old jeans. Their first pair was called the Tate, a classic vintage-style jean with a tapered leg, high-rise cut, and crop wedgie fit.

It took the Mosseris 18 months to develop the brand—and at that point, Maurice notes, “We were like, ‘There is no way Barneys is even going to be interested anymore.’ ” Sonia chimes in: “We responded back to them, like, ‘Hey! Remember us?’ ”

They launched with the retailer in 2019, and the jeans sold out completely in two weeks. “It was the fastest-selling jean brand on Barneys’ floor in history,” Maurice says. Then, after placing a larger order, Barneys filed for bankruptcy, and the Mosseris were back to square one. Eventually, a handful of retailers—most notably Net-a-Porter—did get interested in carrying the line. But just as Sonia and Maurice were about to fulfill those orders, Covid hit. Suddenly, no one was buying jeans, and no one was wearing them either.

As the pandemic began to subside, they launched a direct-to-consumer website. It was clear people were ready to wear jeans again. But the high return rate made the Mosseris realize they needed a store, where people could actually come in to get the right fit. In February 2022, they opened up their first Still Here location, down the block from the hotel rooms where they held market appointments by themselves. “Three years ago, we were waiting for Net-a-Porter to come. They were running late. We were walking around the block. And we said, ‘Wow! What if we opened a store here one day? What a dream that would be!’ It’s so wild,” Sonia remembers.

Since then, Still Here has opened a second store, on Madison Avenue, which Sonia and Maurice also describe as a New Yorker’s dream come true; the brand has expanded into tops, skirts, and knits, as well. Its Cool jeans, with a relaxed leg, low-rise fit, and adjustable drawstring toggle with no waistband, broke the internet. But almost every restock of any of Still Here’s styles—whose names range from Subway to Cowgirl—sells out.

Most notably, the Mosseris have built a community of denim-heads obsessed with their brand. As we sit in front of the Elizabeth Street shop, I watch at least four groups of friends head into the store together to try on jeans. Sonia notes tat their business feels extremely word-of-mouth. “It’s funny,” she says, “because we find that a lot of people will come to the store, and the next time they come back, they bring friends, because they want them to experience the fitting.”

Of the brand’s name, she explains: “We wanted it to be a nod to denim as a garment that’s been around for so long, and [how] it’ll be around forever. It’s a nod to that legacy and heritage of the actual garment, to celebrate how classic it is. And how it’s Still Here!” She laughs, before adding, “I was a philosophy major.”

I point out that it’s also like Maurice and her, who are also very much still in New York, and she nods. “We are such a New York brand, taking advantage of all the different walks of life here that are just cool. And with Still Here, our slogan is everyday dressing, and catering to the endless stories of jeans and white T-shirts, especially in New York.”

A girl is tugging at another’s hand, leading her friend into the Still Here shop with an excited skip. Sonia takes a long look at them. “It’s for everyone!” she exclaims.

Shop Still Here Denim

Cool Jeans in Vintage Blue

Cool Jeans in Classic Blue

The Capri Jeans in Classic Blue

Walker Jeans in Cloud Classic Blue

Subway Jeans in Classic Blue

Tara Gonzalez is the Senior Fashion Editor at Harper’s Bazaar. Previously, she was the style writer at InStyle, founding commerce editor at Glamour, and fashion editor at Coveteur.